Sunday, December 27, 2009

I've just begun another of the books I bought on David Thompson's recommendation at Houston's Murder by the Book (May its profits increase!): The Wooden Overcoat by Pamela Branch.

I've waffled over whether the book is too cozy for my taste, but an informative short biography of Branch, available on the Rue Morgue Press Web site and as an introduction to the novel, may have resolved the issue in the book's favor. The biography likens Branch's "madcap black humor" to that of such British movies as Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Branch published the novel in 1951; Ealing Studios released Kind Hearts and Coronets in 1949. Throw in another Alec Guinness movie, The Ladykillers, and there's reason to regard The Wooden Overcoat as a literary version of a subgenre I'd known previously only through movies: the macabre cozy. (Be sure to watch the original Ladykillers and not the wretched Tom Hanks remake.)

(Branch's novel offers one big surprise in its opening chapters, at least for me. And wooden overcoat is slang for coffin. At least one source says the expression may be of U.S. origin, while others call it Cockney rhyming slang, without, however, explaining the derivation.)

8 Comments:

The originaly Ladykillers is a great flick. I second Peter's recommendation. It's nice to see Alec Guinness, who was a marvelous actor, in something other than Star Wars, and to that end I'd also recommend Bridge on the River Kwai where he really shines.

Peter - That is one of the things I too admired about Guinness: his modesty. I remember reading once somewhere (probably IMDb) that Guinness always considered himself a character actor, who just so happened to land these big parts he wasn't really qualified for. His attitude serves as a nice counterpoint to the more typical mindset of A-list celebs. Especially in this day and age, where we have people who are famous...just for being famous.

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This blog is a proud winner of the 2009 Spinetingler Award for special services to the industry and its blogkeeper a proud former guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's Here on Earth. In civilian life I'm a copy editor in Philadelphia. When not reading crime fiction, I like to read history. When doing neither, I like to travel. When doing none of the above, I like listening to music or playing it, the latter rarely and badly.
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